Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1887-07-27
WITH CROOKED LEGS.
WHAT MAKES MEN BAN!)Y LEGGED
AND KNOCK KNeED.

Not More Than One Man in Three Who
is Straight Limbed-What Surgeon
Says About Crooked Legs-COrpectins
the Curvature.
Comparatively few men have really straight
legs. In a walk from Fourteenth street to
the Battery a reporter made rough estimate
aud found that not more than one in three
Of the men who passed him were straight
imbed Most of them were bow or handy
legged, some Of them were knock kneed, and
in few instances both legs bent the same
way. 1t was noticed that as rule the stout,
heavy men had parenthesis legs, while those
Of slighter build in many cases carried their
bodies on figure resembling an \.
This rule, however, does not always hold
Many men Of no inconsiderable avoirdupois
strike their knees together when they walk.
It is not uncommon to see q long, lanky man
whose legs are so bent that he is physically
incapacitated from stopping the traditional
pig in an alley way. Frequently bowlegged-
ness is associated with strength. 1t is usually
seen in short, sturdy men. Those who are
knock kneed have no such recompense unless
the excuse for renewing trousers, which are
constantly being worn out at the knees by
chatting one against the other, be considered
as such.
WHAT SURGEON SAYS.
A well known surgeon who has had long
experience in a city hospital was asked to ex-
plain the prevalency Of crooked legs. He
said: at is a fact that very few persons have
straight legs. My attention is often called to
it, 1t is hard to say just why 1t is. Many
say that it is because children are made to
walk when they are too young. Mothers like
TO have their little ones on their. feet at as
early an age as possible, and so sometimes
force them to stand before their legs are able
to bear the weight of their bodies. Nurses,
too, when they take children out for an air.
ing, often make them walk without their
parents knowledge. Undoubtedly this is
sometimes the cause Of the deformity. Prob
ably many man owes his curved legs to a
careless nurse, who got tired of carrying him
when he was a baby and put him down when
away from his mother. Others say, with
good reason also, that it is due to baby car
riages. The child is wheeled about until it is
quite old. Its body is thus developed while
its legs are doing nothing, and when finally it
is made to use them, they being still soft, bend
under the weight of the body. l believe that
this treatment of children is responsible for
more bowleggedness, or cnemoscoliosis, as
we cali it, than anything else
every one knows that the bones of the
human body are made UP of cartilaginous or
sinewy fiber and mineral matter, and that
when young the former predominates. The
bones at that stage have, therefore, little
rigidity, and are very easily bent. Unfor-
tunately they have little elasticity, either,
and readily take set. The proportion of
cartilage and mineral matter varies in differ
ent children, so that it is impossible to give
any fixed age at which they should be made
to walk. Many can walk well when II
months old, while others cannot do so until
they are 2 years old.
I'm some children there is an unusal pro-
portion of sinew in the bone, and in these
cases the legs are almost certain to become
crooked. In these instances braces can be
used with advantage until the bones harden.
This simple remedy is rarely used, however,
sometimes from the apathy of the parents,
but chiefly because the tendency is not
noticed until it IS too late. The legs bend one
way or the other very gradually, and when
the curve is perceptible it is usually past the
cure of braces. This condition of the bones
is often due to insufficient food and general
neglect Unless the blood is kept rich and
healthy the bones are apt to be retarded in
development, and SO, remaining soft, are
rooSilv fuicta3